Conspiracy Theories- Speculating about the Present and Past Practice

Conspiracy theories speculating about the present and past practice

What is wrong with all the statements below?

• Prince Charles The Prince of Wales is a Muslim.
• The Loch Ness monster exists.
• The world is controlled by Freemasons.
• Aliens sometimes kidnap humans (and probe them in their space ships).
• The American government knows that aliens exist.
• Global warming is a lie (made up to give governments more control over people’s lives)
• Governments know that fluoride in the water is harmful.
• The oil industry know where lots more oil is (but pretend they don’t so the price stays high).
• Elvis Presley is still alive.
• The CIA is involved in drug dealing.
• The CIA experimented with using LSD as a truth drug.
• British Prime Minister Harold Wilson was an agent for the Russian KGB.
• Paul McCartney died in a car crash in 1966 (and was replaced by a lookalike).
• The American military planned fake Cuban terrorist attacks in the US (so that they had a reason to invade Communist Cuba).
• An alien was dissected at the Roswell American air force base.
• Humans were created by aliens.
• The Americans didn’t really land on the moon.
• The Apollo moon landing was a hoax (filmed in a studio by Stanley Kubrick).
• President Kennedy (=JFK) was assassinated by the CIA with the Mafia.
• Jack the Ripper was never caught because he was someone important (and the police protected him).
• Shakespeare’s plays were written by someone else.
• The Americans dropped the atom bomb on Japan to scare the Soviet Union.
• Alexander the Great was gay.
• 9/11 was planned by the US government as an excuse to invade Iraq (and so gain control of its oil).
• The explosion in the Pentagon on 9/11 came from inside the building.
• Princess Diana was murdered by the British Royal Family (because she was going to marry a Muslim).
• NATO got involved in the Yugoslav War so late because the Bosnians were Muslims.
• President Roosevelt knew that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was planned but let it happen so that he could go to war against the Japanese and the Germans.
• The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was caused by an Indian nuclear weapon test.
• There were civilisations with advanced technology on earth thousands of years ago (which later disappeared).
• Jesus was an alien
• Jesus moved to Japan after his crucifixion.
• Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children.
• AIDS was created by the CIA.
• Crack cocaine was created by the CIA.

Answer: Even if you think some or all of the statements are true, they are all written as straight facts and so are far too sure to match our real level of knowledge.  

Choose statements from above and change them to match your own level of (positive or negative) certainty or uncertainty, using the expressions below to help you if you like. Do your partners agree with the level of certainty that you chose?

Mixed speculating phrases

• almost certainly
• almost certainly not
• can’t
• could (+ have + PP)
• could possibly (+ have + PP)
• might well/ may well (+ have + PP)
• might/ may (+ have + PP)
• must (+ have + PP)
• probably
• probably not

Put the expressions above into order from the most probable to the least probable.

What kind of statements on the last page need “have +PP”?